Phantasms
by ForbiddenKHfan216
Summary: 'Don't play.' The words of the boy has haunted me my entire life. Just what do they mean? Pence's curiosity will soon get the better of all of us, sending us all into my nightmare. Please let me wake up. Just what do his words mean? 'Don't play...' Soon we might be forced to play anyway. The stakes? Our lives. Alternate Universe fic. Might contain some gore and swearing.
1. Chapter 1: Dreaming

**Alright, this is actually a sort of challenge for me. Along with the story 'Chasers,' I've been experimenting with different point of views for my writing. Normally, I don't write in first person, it just feels too personal and too limited in my opinion. But I'm trying to grow as a writer, not just be some teenage amateur. I want to do something with these writings, make people happy (or creeped out, as the case may be) about what I'm doing. So, after listening to a song created by the Vocaloid software – it's oddly my taste and the songs are very fun to listen to, remember that please before bashing me – I decided that maybe my favorite character deserved a little time as the star of the show. So, in other words, Sora is not my main hero in this one, neither are Roxas or Riku the emo bugger. I only hope I did you justice.**

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or the Vocaloid song "Kagome Kagome" are not mine in anyway.**

**Final note here. As I mentioned before, this is a challenge fic for me. I'm also writing a similar story on Fictionpress so... Both original and fanfiction editions will eventually be put up, if anyone cares to read them both.**

**Rock on, reviewers.**

**-ForbiddenKHFan216**

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_**Phantasms: Chapter One: Dreaming**_

_'C'mon, big sister, let's play, let's play!'_

The children's voices... They always sound so eagerly around the darkness of the small room, filling it to the brim with their happiness. I guess they're happy about having a new friend there to play with them. They sound almost ecstatic at the idea of playing with me, whoever they are. They're just so happy.

I can only hear their voices, so lost am I in the darkness.

Although my vision is normally very good, twenty twenty even, if I try to get a good look at the kids, I can only see the vaguest outlines of their bodies. They are all covered in shadows, almost like they had been drenched in black ink, hidden within the dark confines of the room.

It was the dream again. The dream always started this way, with me looking into the darkness. I can hear the children's excited voices, each one suggesting a new game to play with the 'big sister' as they call me or rejecting one of the other's ideas. Just like always.

Whenever I try to look closer at them, and I always do, a faint throbbing pain suddenly appears behind my temples. It always increases with an even fiercer beat whenever I attempt to move forward to look at the kids. It was... like a warning. Like someone telling me not to look at them, to only look at the brightness of their neat little dresses and suits flying through the air. They jump through the air, each one eagerly calling out the names of games and the names of the other children and as always, '_Let's play, big sister, let's play!'_. Red, blue, green, pink, white... all of the colors of the rainbow are present in the clothes of the children; as they sing loudly about playing with me, they almost look like exotic parrots, all decked out in feathers of cotton and silk. It was almost...

Frightening.

The children laugh in their excitement, their cheerfulness mixing with a strange combination of anxiety and delight, like they were about to play a very dangerous game with me. I shiver in fear, fighting off an equally as bizarre feeling of familiarity. They circle around me, each dancing in the air with a reinvigorated passion. As I back away from them, the feeling of forgetting increases, the intense emotion bringing tears to my eyes. I knew these children, didn't I? I knew them...

As I stare at them, one of the little boys turns toward me, holding his little palm out to me. He smiles broadly at me as he toddles over to me, clutching at one of my hands eagerly. The others continue to dance, singing loudly in their eagerness. I turn to look at the little boy, staring at him in confusion. His spiky blond hair bobs in the darkness as he watches the others dance. His dark blue eyes, previously filled with childlike hyperness and happiness, fill with sadness as he holds my hand in his own little grip. _'Let's play,' _ he says softly, without any real emotion in it. While he speaks, he squeezes my hand as if for reassurance. _'But I don't want to play.'_ he tells me once again, just like he had every night for the past ten years.

Suddenly, one of the other boys drop down from his jump and walks over to me. He takes my hand in his own and his face suddenly becomes all too clear. _'Let's play, big sister!' _he declares as he leans his face leans up towards mine. His dark brown hair begins to hang just a little more heavily, as if he had just been dipped in a bucket of water. As I stare at him, a high-pitched howl of laughter emerges from the children behind us.

Red liquid begins to drip down his cheeks, staining them a bright crimson._ 'Let's play!'_ he says again, tugging at my hands. As I'm pulled forward, the blood from his cheeks trickle into my hand and I hear a low laughter, a strangely inhumane laughter. He turns to me again, grinning broadly at me, revealing a mouthful of white fangs. They gleam in the darkness as the rest of the kids begin laughing, a cruel and inhumane laughter.

_'Let's play!'_ They declare in unison, suddenly taking a few steps towards us. The little boy holding my hand holds it that much tighter, hanging his head as he whispers softly: _'But I don't want to play.'_ He glances at me worriedly before smiling weakly, nodding toward the other children in agreement, slowly letting go of my hand.

"_Don't play. You won't make it if you play."_ He warns me softly, his little fingers slipping out of mine. For some reason, it always hurts when he leaves my side, as if he was my only token of sanity in this strange dream. He troops off to the others, who were arranging themselves in a circle. He takes his place in the middle, sitting down and closing his eyes quietly. The other children begin to dance around him, cheerfully belting out a song that I can never hear nor understand.

They still dance when the first of the flames begin to sprout up from the old floorboards. In fact, they don't even seem to notice the fire. My little guardian remains in the middle, and he is the only one who flinches away from the flames. He's the only one who can feel them, too, the others being so doped up on their own excitement.

The children still continue to dance and to play long after they burst into flames.

I sit up, gasping loudly for breath, trembling violently in shock. That dream again... I start crying, gripping at my chest in pain. A sharp ache, the same ache that always appears after I watch them burn to death, vibrates angrily through my chest, cutting off my breathing. Breathlessly, I struggle to remember, to remember anything! The details of the dream, other than the knowledge of watching children burning, begin to fade. Just like they always do. Even the memory of my little guardian begins to ebb away from me as I try to remember.

I run my fingers through my hair, struggling violently to breathe and to remember.

"Got her." I hear someone say before a heavy pressure slams into my face, throwing me back into the ground. My head slams into the wood floorboards, sending a very different kind of ache through my body. I hear a soft whimper come out of my mouth as a burning trickle makes its way down my cheek. Ow.

"Fuu, you bitch! You didn't have to hit her that hard!" I hear someone snarl, irritably yelling at the girl on the opposite team as ours. … Oh yeah... I sit up, clutching my bleeding nose in my fingers. I look up to see the rest of our gym class quickly taking sides, Fuu VS Olette. The brunette folds her arms against her chest, glaring threateningly at the older girl. For a cheerleader, Olette sure was violent. Fuu says nothing but her one visible red eye flickers in my direction. A faint smile appears on her solemn face. "Out." She says calmly, pointing with her thumb to the 'Out' bench we had labeled in the beginning of class.

I slowly start getting up, wincing as my nose throbs between my fingers, the blood gushing out like a waterfall. It really hurt... I get to my feet and without a word, I wobble over to the bench, sinking into it quietly. The blood keeps flowing, and I struggle not to faint or something. I close my eyes, avoiding the sight of the fluid. I hate blood. I really do. Olette casts a worried eye in my direction, obviously wanting to go comfort her younger friend. I give her a calm wave, keeping my head lowered. I didn't exactly need her to run after me like a worried mother-hen, after all.

_'Don't play.'_

The voice makes me jump in my seat, forcing my gaze to look upward. As the blood keeps trickling down into my hand, the boy's solemn blue eyes look into mine. His white clothes seem almost washed out in the brightness of the Oathkeeper Gymnasium, like he was some strange sort of after-image, like the ones that sometimes appear when Brother turned the TV off too fast. The ones that show up on the screen even after the TV is technically off. He reaches out to me again, his little fingers grasping at the air for my hand. _'Don't play.'_ he tells me once more, quietly staring at me. There's a strange sort of earnestness in his voice and in his eyes, like he wants to tell me something. _**Warn**_ me about something, even.

Black spots dance in my vision, a wave of sickening dizziness suddenly coming over me. It's all I can do not to faint but the struggle is getting harder and harder... The boy touches my shoulder, his icy touch pressing through my P.E. shirt.

Like all of the other ghosts I've seen, he goes right through me.

_'Don't play. Danger. Danger.'_ He whispers quietly as all of the noise in the gym suddenly dies off, like someone had just clicked the mute button. Olette looks over at me as I stare at the little boy. I can see her lips move, but no sound comes out. None that I can hear, anyway._ 'Run.'_ The boy tells me before a wave of pain echoes through my head, the black spots becoming larger. I clutch at my head for a moment before I tumble forward, collapsing on the gym floor... As I lie there on the floor, unconsciousness begging to drift over me, I hear one last thing before my classmates pick me up and scream for someone to go get the coach.

_'Don't go, Xion.'_


	2. Chapter 2: Vision

**So, since this is my 'have fun' story, I have a new chapter! **

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts, Vocaloids (It's only very vaguely based on the song however) and Final Fantasy are not mine in the least.**

**Enjoy!**

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_**Phantasms Chapter Two: Vision **_

The world is rocking.

"_She's not breathing." "Someone get the doctor! She won't last long at this rate." "Defibrillator?" "No, her eyes... Her eyes are moving! She's conscious!" _

Is this for real... or not? I can't tell...

My body is strapped to the table, but it keeps moving around. The voices are loud, so loud... The adults keep telling me not to worry, but I can only blink at them. I can feel someone holding my hand, and the girl is crying. She looks afraid, like she was worried I was going to die. She speaks quietly to one of the ambulance technicians, whispering to him in fear. I can't understand what they're saying anyway. But the vibrations of their voices enter my skull and bounce around in my brain, stabbing a sharp pain into my temples.

It's getting hard for me to breathe...

* * *

Her dark blue eyes stare at me menacingly, despite that we're very far away from each other. The little girl's smile is cruel, evil even. From the tense way she stands, her arms clenched close to her chest, I know she wants to hurt me. That's the one thing she wants, the one thing that _might_ make her move on. Seeing me in pain. How much pain, I'm not sure. Her lips part in a silent, nasty giggle, like I was the biggest joke in the entire world for her. She has no voice. None of them do. None of the children, with the exception of my little guardian, can speak outside of that one nightmare.

I still know she wants to kill me.

Either way, she doesn't come any closer to me. She stays at a distance, her body language warning me that I still have a little time. She drums her fingers on her thigh, right over the black pants underneath her skirt. She catches my gaze, motioning with a finger to look up. The girl runs her hand down her stomach, smoothing the red tinted fabric neatly. The stain sticks to her hand and she brings it to her mouth, sucking the blood from her fingertip.

I stare at her, wondering if it was my blood she was drinking... or her own. A strange look of ecstasy appears on her face and she licks her lips eagerly, giving me a much crueler grin. Her mouth moves silent, mocking the way she would have spoken if she was alive. Somehow, I know exactly what she's trying to tell me.

_'You can't wake up this time. I won't let you.' _

She always gave me those looks. Like I had done something absolutely horrible to this girl, as if I had drowned her goldfish or something. Or worse. She wants to kill me. … Was it blood for blood? My life in exchange for hers? The only problem... I had no idea who this girl was. I didn't know her, except from when she appeared in my life.

The girl clutches at her throat, her long nails scraping harshly against her flesh. In memory of her blood, I guess, her pale skin turns red but doesn't bleed. She keeps looking at me, her smile becoming a vicious snarl. Like I had just gotten on her nerves or something. Her eyes take on a hungry look, starving even. She licks her lips again, the famished look becoming worse. Automatically, even if it was only a dream, I take a step back. The fear feels hot in my stomach, like I just swallowed a burning coal.

She smirks, obviously amused by my reaction. She cocks her head to the side for a moment, staring at me with the mockingly innocent expression of a child. It was as if she was trying to see something in me, something she wanted. Her fingers keep clawing at her throat, angrily working at her skin. She glares at me, a cruelly desperate look. Like she wants me to see what I had done. What I had done to her. Like this was my fault. Look what you've done to me. This is your fault. This is all your fault.

Even if I didn't know why, that look always makes me want to cry. I can feel the tears rising up inside of me, making me choke. The words, if I had any to begin with, die in my throat. A cold guilt freezes my heart as I stare at that poor little girl. I sink to my knees, overwhelmed by her conviction and how the strange guilt enters my mind. What if I had done it? What if I had killed this girl?

She takes a step towards me and then another, her boot heels clacking against the floorboards loudly. Each click is a signal that she's coming closer, one more step toward my death. She stops in the middle of the room, as if by a wall. She puts her hands up in the air, pressing them against what looked like an invisible barrier that separated the two of us from each other. She growls silently, scratching at it like an infuriated cat. She mouths something to me, glaring at me viciously.

_'I'll never forgive you, never. Not for all of eternity.'_

* * *

The girl's lips move as the paramedics struggle to keep her still on the gurney.

Xion clutches at her hand, grasping it tightly. Olette can hear the bones inside of her hand creak from the sheer pressure, as if the unconscious girl might break her fingers. They shove her friend's hands into leather bonds, literally tying her down to keep her from moving. Three bands are tied across her chest, effectively cutting off all and any movement. Xion stops moving, her tense expression relaxing immediately, like it comforted it her for some reason.

'She almost looks asleep now, doesn't she?' Olette thinks to herself. 'How bizarre...' It was no question that the bonds had done it, but why?

Olette can't help but hear her, her friend's strange words. She holds the younger girl's hand tightly, as if only listening to the strange whispers would snap her out of her bizarre reverie. Xion whispers softly into her friend's ear, somehow keeping the paramedics from listening, as if what she was saying was for Olette's ears only. Olette isn't sure if this was a good thing or not but she leans in anyway, quietly listening to her as the tears drip down her cheeks.

"_I'll never forgive you, never. Not for all of eternity. … I want to play, I want to play. … I think the world is so wonderful, isn't it just wonderful? … What's the point of being here? When we're all gone? Let us go. … It's dark here, it's always been dark here. … Who am I again? Let's go off together, just like you promised. …. Wake up. Wake up, Xion. Don't go through this again." _

Olette looks at the paramedics, who were busily going through her friend's vital signs. One of them grabs Xion's free hand to measure her pulse, the other quickly straps on a mask onto her face. The sharp inhale of oxygen calms them somehow, as if they had been concerned about her breathing all along. They continue to move around the cramped space, making sure that the unconscious girl would be alright. One of them looks at Olette curiously, as if wondering what she was listening to. Olette says nothing but bends her head closer to Xion's mouth, listening quietly. She shivers, despite the heat inside of the ambulance cabin.

As Xion speaks, each of the voices sounds completely different, as if they all belong to different people. The girl's lips contorts strangely as she talks, each voice shifting into different pitches. Some were lower than the others, as if they belonged to older boys; others were much more higher pitched, like they belonged to very young girls. But there is one clear similarities to each of the voices, one that causes Olette to shiver violently when she realizes it.

All of the voices sound like they belonged to children.

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***^*^*^  
Alright, this will be our little review corner. Just for me to clear up anything that might be a little weird for you guys.**

**Xion is unconscious and talking in her sleep, talking in different voices like she's the lead of the freakin' Exorcist movie.**

**At the same time, she's having a nightmare about a little girl walking towards her. Who the little girl is, well, she'll be revealed eventually, if you didn't guess who she is already.**

**And yes, Olette went with her in the ambulance. Why, I don't know. She just did. She's a good friend like that. **

**Rock on, reviewers!**

**-ForbiddenKHFan216**


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

Phantasms Chapter Three: Memories

_**My eyes opened slowly, like I was just barely waking up from a very long sleep. I couldn't help but stare at the boy sitting beside me, watching him as he poked the coals in front of him. As soon as he scraped the stick into them, the bright crimson stones burst into life again and the flames flared up into his hands. **_

_**Somehow... even though I knew they should **_**hurt**_**, his hands stayed okay. They're not burned, not **_**hurt**_**, not **_**hurt**_** at all. They didn't catch on fire, they just stayed the same... The flames curled around his fingers, playing into his hands with the same sort of way that a pet might play with his master's hands, that same sort of... I blinked slowly, looking up at him in confusion. The flames on his knuckles sparked with a loud noise, even though sparks shouldn't be able to make a sound like that at all. The boy looked at his hands for a moment, staring at them in mild surprise before he turned his gaze towards me. **_

_**His eyes were a dark green, the same color as the leaves up on the trees when it was that warn time of year. They were full of something... full of something funny... Is it **_**hurt**_**?**_

"_**Hmmm? Are you awake now?" He asked me softly, reaching out with his free hand to pet me on the head. The gesture seemed strange to me and I winced at him, pulling away from that oddly gentle touch. A strange smile appeared on his lips and he turned back to the flames. I stared at him, moving away from him as he keeps poking the fire. No **_**hurt**_**, no **_**hurt**_**, I didn't want any **_**hurt**_**. "Hmm. You still don't trust me. Even after carrying you all this way? If this is how you show your appreciation... Geez, next time thanks... but no thanks." He said to me in a teasing sort of voice, shaking his head in grim amusement. I blinked at him for a moment before looking at the boy's hands again. They looked like they were soft.**_

_**They looked very soft and very warm. **_

_**Noticing where my eyes fell, the boy gave me a smile. This smile is sad, not full of **_**happiness**_** like the other one had been. This one is sad, so very sad, as if he had remembered something. I wonder what he remembered...? "Don't worry... I'll be the one to protect you." He informed me quietly, once more putting his hand on my head. This time, I closed my eyes and let him.**_

_**This time... there is no **_**hurt**_** at all.**_

* * *

"Xion...?"

My eyes open slowly as I wake up, and my body twitches as I begin to feel my surroundings around me. I take in a deep breath, inhaling the harsh scent of industrial-grade disinfectant and the stench of others' disease and blood. My tongue flickers out, tasting the blood on my own lips, and I feel so sleepy, just so sleepy... the scents in the air are comforting for some reason, like a familiar old lullaby that I had forgotten from when I was little. They were making me so sleepy though... would it be okay if I went back to sleep...? I begin to close my eyes again, my body falling back into the deep breathing pattern of sleep.

They make me so sleepy...

"Xion!"

My eyes snap open again, my breathing accelerating from the sheer shock of the sudden yell in my ear. Automatically, I turn my head to the side, having to check what the noise was, even if it was something bizarre. With the same feeling of a little kid peering under her bed to check for monster, I look toward the person who had shouted my name. A smile crosses my lips. As if in response, the same warm smile appears on that man's face and he reaches out toward me, putting his hand on my head, patting my hair fondly. I close my eyes, leaning my body in his direction.

Axel... had come for me...?

A low growl sounds out through the air and I feel his body lean into the bed I was lying on. It creaks loudly with his weight and I feel his hand move to my head, turning it up toward him. "Hey. Hey. What the hell? _**Wake up!**_" I jump as he screams in my ear, howling with all of his might. He shakes me hard before slipping his arm under my legs, quickly picking me up. I bury my face in his chest sleepily, blinking hard to try to wake up. There's this intense heat inside of his chest, almost like flames were trapped there and were burning out of control. He was angry. Axel was very angry.

Was he upset because I had gotten hurt...?

"Sir? You can't take her! She's very sick!" Someone protests in alarm, grabbing at his arms. I look up at Axel and see his smirk was already in place; it's the look he always has when he beats people up, it's a very familiar look... Axel cradles my body closer to his, his eyes going dark. "Make me leave her." He warns in a soft voice, savage malice dripping from each of his four words. I can hear his low chuckle inside of his chest, like a bellows stroking up the fire.

I can feel the heat of the flames threatening to come out, just like they do whenever he gets mad.

He clutches me closer, staring at the doctor (or nurse? Maybe he's a nurse...) calmly. He smiles again, looking at me calmly before chuckling softly. The vibration buzzes through my head, making me wince and smile at the same time. "Sorry, Xi. Looks like I'm breaking my promise." He tells me, stroking my cheek with his free hand.

All I can do is fall asleep as the bellows inside of his chest stoke up the flames.

Axel quietly carries his little girl down the streets, rapidly picking up the pace or slowing down whenever he hears something strange behind him. He knows he's being paranoid, but after ten years of running, he really couldn't help it. He also had to concentrate on how he carried Xion, to make sure he didn't drop her or anything. She already had one head injury after all, she didn't need a busted arm on top of that. That would actually require them to come to a hospital, to get the cast on and to get it off later when she was healed.

He couldn't do that. No one could know where they were.

Behind him, the hospital continues to burn, the flurry of flames dancing over the tops of the multistory buildings eagerly. He can feels the flames calling to him, like a tug in his stomach, begging him to come back and help them destroy the place. He ignores the crackles of the burning wood, of the splintering bricks tumbling from their mortar.

Xion moans softly in his arms, burying her face even deeper into his chest. Automatically, he strokes her bangs away from her closed eyes and he looks back at the hospital. He can hear the screams of panicking people inside, the patients, the nurses... He looks down at Xion and smiles at her, pressing his head against hers for a moment, like he was gathering strength from the unconscious girl.

Without saying a word, he lifts his hand in the air, purposely spreading his fingers apart. For a moment, his clawed fingers look like they're cradling the hospital itself. He exhales softly, before sucking in a deep breath. His hand slams closed, his fingers folding into a fist.

The flames sputter out of existence as the man walks away, holding the little girl closer to his chest.

On a desk within the hospital, deep within the emergency room, the papers with Xion's name on them spontenously combust. The ashes tumble away from the desk, blowing away with the faint breeze that had accompanied the fire.

Everything else on that nurse's desk is untouched.

Even before I open my eyes, I know that I'm back home. The smell of Axel's cooking and the smell of my room with its perfumed air of flowers from the backyard buries deep into the very center of my being, making me smile as I lie there on something warm. Axel had brought me home. I snuggle deeper into the blankets that covered me, wincing as a heavy hand pats my head gently. I lean into it, smiling as Axel speaks to me quietly and wraps his index finger with the short hairs of my fringe. He's warm, Axel is warm. "Rest up, squirt. You've had a hell of a day, you know." He pulls the blanket a little more over me, putting another pillow between us so I could rest my head-

_**'Even if your head is gone, even if we take your arms, you won't-!'**_

I sit up, staring blankly at the TV screen, panting heavily as the air seems to evaporate out of my lungs. My head... I grab at it, quickly making sure that everything was there. Axel jumps as I run my fingers around my face. Eyes, ears, mouth, tiny button nose... I check my hair, making sure that it hadn't been burned off while I was passed out.

Everything's there. Nothing's missing. I'm all there.

I sigh, leaning back into the couch pillows and Axel's arm. I relax slightly as Axel's arms gently wrap around me, pulling me into his body carefully. He takes a great deal of care in handling my injured head, which I can already feel is covered in bandages. He looks at me curiously, obviously asking why the hell I just jumped like that and why I had freaked out. I give him a weak smile before glancing over to the corner thoughtfully, sighing softly.

That memory... I close my eyes again, trying to remember what I had seen in the ambulance. The boy... An image of a grinning teenager comes to mind, his long red hair tucked messily into a pony tail, the way he had used to wear it when I was still a toddler. I chuckle softly, remembering. Axel. The boy had been Axel, when he was younger. Before he became an adult.

Back when we were both in the orphanage.

Axel pats my head, and from the way his body is positioned against mine, I can feel that he's looking down at me. I stick out my tongue, immediately being satisfied with the amused chuckle above me. Inside of him, the flames of his heart rumble slightly, as if they were laughing along with him. I snuggle in closer to my pseudo-father/brother, smiling brightly as he adjusts the blanket over the both of us slightly.

As we lie there, Axel being completely silent as he checks over my head wound and me being quiet from trying to remember. "You don't have to go to school tomorrow. I can make an excuse note." He tells me quietly as he runs a hand through my short hair, carefully pulling out a bit of dried blood from the tangled locks. I shake my head, sighing as he crumples the maroon bit of me in his fingers. He raises an eyebrow.

"Axel, it's fine. You know that I have to go to school anyway... you're going to heal me in a little bit. There's no point in staying home." I say softly, my voice slightly hoarse for some reason. I glance up at him, wondering curiously if he had in fact broken his promise. He couldn't have. He couldn't have broken his promise, Axel totally owed me. Coughing into my hand, I wipe a small bit of ash from my lips.

My eyes widen and I look up at him sharply. He did not. Not this again!

The moment I do so, Axel looks away, trying to look innocent. "It was an emergency." He informs me in a scolding voice, glaring at me as I smirk and try not to giggle. As much as he tried to be a dad, Axel could never quite pull it off. I nod solemnly, wincing slightly as the movement rubs the bandages against the wound. I guess I could forgive him just this once... the flames in his chest flare up again, the whooshing sound near his heart making the begging noise that all of his fire did. They were begging to be let out. To be let out and cause havoc, like they once were able to when we were younger.

Immediately, Brother places his hand onto the wound, sighing softly. He whispers the word quietly, trying to make it so I couldn't remember it and use it myself. He doesn't like to use our powers, especially when we had just settled into a new place. But in times like these, he always made sure to never say the words to me, the words that made a lot of them work. He doesn't trust me but I lean into his hand, letting him say the words of power over me because I trust him.

Ever since I could remember, we've had these weird abilities. And as far as I remember, no one else has had them. Axel says they're a gift, something that God gave us to make us survive better on our own. We've always been on our own and we've always had these powers. Axel says that they're a gift for us, something special. That we're special. … But... Being special just means we're different. That we're not normal.

He doesn't want to admit that.

He lifts his hand from my head, sighing as he flexes his fingers idly. I open my eyes. "Alright, it's done. Try not to bang yourself there again, though." He tells me, patting my head gently again. I nod, feeling nothing from my head except the slightest twinge of pain. Axel smiles at me as I flex my head around in several directions, as if making sure that it was alright. I nod yes, I shake it no, I move it like an invisible barber was preparing me to get a hair cut, feeling no pain as I move. Axel had done it again. He cured my busted head.

He hugs me again when I settle back into him, allowing me to snuggle into him, a privilege he doesn't let a lot of people have. Heck, even his girlfriends haven't been allowed to lie here with him and I'm only his younger sister. He strokes my hair gently, humming to himself as he flips through the channels, looking for something to watch that wouldn't bug me too much as I sleep.

_'You can't wake up this time. I won't let you.' _

I sit up, panting softly as the little girl stares at me accusingly from the corner of the room, her dark blue eyes flashing angrily. Her lips curl up into a twisted little smile as she mockingly waves at me, looking at Axel sharply. For once, there is a strange longing in her expression, one of true sorrow as she looks at my brother.

It was as if she missed him, as if she had known him in life and was now mourning him in death.

Her gaze turns back toward mine and she giggles softly, walking toward the couch cautiously. It was like she was scared, but defiantly trying to cover it up. I tremble violently, shrinking back into Axel in fear.

She was going to hurt me. She was going to hurt me again, I_ didn't want to go back to the hospital with all of those sharp things and monsters and doctors and all of those screams and cries - _

Around Axel, a sudden burning smell starts to waft through the room, freezing the little girl in her tracks. Her horrified expression is only matched by Axel's sheer rage. He smirks viciously, holding out a hand toward her. The flames literally trickle down his fingers, like it was water he was carrying rather than thousand degree fire. I immediately relax into him, clinging to him as his eyes scan the empty room. He had noticed. He knew that she was back. I bury my face in my hands, allowing him to pull me back a little so he could get up. Axel stands up and chuckles softly, staring at the spot where the girl was standing as if he could see her.

He couldn't, but that didn't stop him.

"Well? You want to come here, short stuff?" He demands furiously, wiggling his fingers in a violent threat against the little girl. Her eyes drop to his hands and she backs away from him, her anger and sorrow being replaced by fear. She was afraid of the fire but I didn't know why. She takes a step back, her entire body shaking as Axel takes a step forward. Her little pink lips form words, mouthing them to me as if she thought I could hear her.

I can't hear her. I've never been able to hear her.

The little girl looks up at me and snarls for a moment, pointing a trembling finger back at Axel. She then jabs it in my direction, mouthing something again to me. I shake my head like I have so many times before, pressing my hands to my ears in emphasis before dropping them back into my lap. I can't hear her. She's never been able to speak. Axel looks back at me before nodding in the direction of the child, his grim frown asking if she was gone yet. I shake my head at him again just as the girl opens her mouth and begins to scream.

I slam my hands back onto my ears, feeling the vibration of the silent shriek fly through the air around me, the resonance jarring everything in sight even though she wasn't making a sound. The coffee table jumps about three feet in the air from the impact of the screams, sending cups and plates and forks tumbling to the floor in a loud jumble of tinkling metal and the crash of breaking plates.

"Axel! She's yelling, she's yelling!" I yelp as the little girl immediately rushes forward, reaching out for me with a pale little hand. She almost makes it to the couch before Axel takes a swipe at her with a savage backhand that swings just over her head, making her freeze in her tracks. He had somehow managed to nearly hit her, despite the fact that he couldn't see her. She glares at him and then back at me before dropping to her knees, screeching even harder as tendrils of black smoke begin to crawl up her body.

I grab at Axel's hand, crying as the little girl clutches at her face. I could see white drops of water tumble from her eyes as she screams, her little white fingers squeezing tightly around her blond hair as she struggles to get up, to get away from the black smoke that was beginning to engulf her. Tufts of baby down hair floats away from her fingers as she is swallowed up by the darkness, her silent screams falling on deaf ears. She looks at me with those big scared blue eyes, begging me to help her, begging me to not let her die again. She hates me but she still begs me for help.

But that's not what I do.

I bury my face into Axel as he scoops me up, pressing it back into his stomach as he holds me. The little girl reaches for me, her hands grabbing at my school socks in fear. She doesn't want to die. She doesn't want to die but there isn't anything I can do. Her hands are cold against my feet but I don't pull away, feeling the icy fingers claw at my skin. Drops of blood, my blood, warm her fingers for a moment as she slowly disappears. Her entire body is covered in darkness, leaving only her face exposed to me.

She's so small. She is so small and I realize that for the first time in so many years. All the years that had passed and I was finally bigger than she was.

Rage flits across her features as the tendrils snake onto her face, the black ink staining her cheek as her fingers fade away into oblivion. Her fingers, still clutching at my ankles, loosen and drop away as the smoke eats at them, decaying them within itself. I don't know how I know what the smoke does. Little streams of it float up away from the girl and with it, I could see chunks of flesh being carried away with it. An ear, a finger, little bits of her skin. White, gold, blue, all of it being dragged away as the last of the smoke starts slipping into her eyes, obscuring them and painting them black as ink. She keeps screaming, her hands clawing at my legs as Axel drags me up onto the couch, swinging my entire body into his lap as the drops of blood trickle down them.

I close my eyes.

"Is she gone?" I hear a low voice demand and my brother's hands tighten around my waist.

I open them again and look at the empty space where the little girl had been. There is nothing there anymore, nothing but a few drops of the now congealing blood from my ankles. There is no trace of the little girl that had been trying to attack me and there is no trace of the black smoke that swallowed her up.

Axel had told me a theory he had about the smoke back when I first described it to him. He said that maybe it was a way to drag her back to wherever the hell she came from originally. My brother, the religious nut.

I nod to him and Axel takes my hand, briefly pressing it to his lips before simply dropping his head onto my shoulder. It wasn't a kiss. More like 'I'm glad you're not in the Other Place.' We don't know what this Other Place is beyond giving it a name. But we both know we don't want to go there. I lean against him and close my eyes again, feeling the sticky hot tears beginning to trickle down my face. For a moment, I am five years old again and there is a sanctuary in Axel's arms. The entire world can't hurt me, I don't have a head injury, and the one lie that every parent tells their children still counts.

Everything is going to be okay.

"Xion?" Axel says again, jarring me out of my thoughts as he picks up the remote from the floor and dusts a few ceramic shards off of it. I raise an eyebrow, smiling as he turns the TV back on and settles into the couch. He scoops up a handful of trail mix off of the floor, probably from the bowl I had left on the coffee table a week ago when Olette came over to watch a movie marathon with me, and shovels it into his mouth.

"What is it, Axel?"

"Next time you go off to school, how about we don't end the day with you in the hospital and a crazy fucking murderous ghost in our apartment?"

"... No promises."


	4. Chapter 4: A Normal Girl

**Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me, but quite obviously, this fic is for my own grim pleasure. **

**Please read and review.**

* * *

Chapter Four: An Ordinary Girl

I was supposed to be normal.

I walk down the hallways, ignoring the whispering of the girls and boys around me, each of them thinking that I couldn't hear them. "Little freak-" "Smacked in the face with a ball, what a loser-" "I hope she's okay, she was bleeding a lot yesterday-" "Stupid bitch-" Some of the voices are sympathetic, others are not. They either were worried that I was some hemophiliac that had gotten a nasty break yesterday or I was some spaz.

Personally, I could live with either one as long as they left me alone. The voices continue, buzzing in my head like flies buzzing inside of an empty jar. They never seemed to stop, those voices, just as my classmates never seemed to close their mouths. I wonder how they even breath sometimes.

"Stupid freak-"

"If I was her, I would have stayed home-"

I close my eyes for a moment as I reach my locker, automatically spinning the combination lock to the three numbers that would open it up. I needed my textbook, my biology notebook, and a bunch of other stuff for my next class. It was a distraction really, a way of speeding up the time until I had to meet up with my friends.

8.

15.

13.

I rub at my temples, feeling them throb slightly beneath my fingers. Despite how much aspirin that Axel had filled me up with, despite how much he put into my healing yesterday, my head still hurt like crazy. All day I had been seeing spots, the kind of spots that someone would get from a concussion or whiplash. If only I was able to take some stronger medicine, if only I wasn't allergic to just about every kind of medication except aspirin that had ever existed.

I shake my head again, trying to knock the random thoughts that kept going through my mind into some sort of order again. Head injuries apparently made you loopy. My fingers curls around the edge of the locker door as I start to open it. It begins to vibrate in my hand, buzzing like a giant bee in warning. And for once, I know exactly what the buzzing meant. Not this again. I sigh before pulling it open completely, quickly side-stepping to the locker besides mine. A huge bucket of water, one that shouldn't even been able to fit in my locker, tumbles from the top shelf and drops heavily to the floor, the water splattering everywhere. Kids around me shriek in surprise and back away from the bright red water that was spreading everywhere.

Blood. It was supposed to look like blood.

I peek into my locker and see that my books are all the way in the back, safe and sound from the attack of the water bucket vandal. Heck, they weren't even wet. That's some bully, making sure that my stuff doesn't get messed up before messing with me. So generous. I scoop them up and tuck them under my arm, glancing briefly to the overturned bucket beside me. "Thanks." I say out loud, feeling a sudden cold pressure on my arm. I look down to my shoulder and I see a small see-through hand clinging to my sleeve, gently smoothing it back into shipshape condition rather than the normal rolled up slob way I wore it. Yup, she was definitely back.

The cold fingers on my arm squeeze tightly though it doesn't hurt. She was probably trying to reassure me, though I think that her warning was a heck of a lot more useful than her making me feel better. I just give her a friendly smile before rescuing the rest of my stuff from my locker. As I work, several of the books helpfully jump into my hand, like they had been pushed from behind by an invisible hand.

In the 1950s, a girl had committed suicide at my school. The reason? She had been bullied to the point that she couldn't take it anymore. All because she loved to read. It's been said that sometimes, if you're alone here at night, you can see a shadowy image of a girl walking in the library and if you stay long enough, books will fly off the shelves, onto one of the work tables, and start flipping through their pages all by themselves. Like someone had pulled them from their places and had started to read them. When the books got all the way to the end, they would fly right back to where they had come from.

The girl had always been a kind soul, she hadn't deserved what had happened to her.

"Thanks, Belle." I say again as I start to close the locker, having put all of my stuff safely into my backpack. It was going to weigh a ton but it was better than risk my homework being ruined. Again. The locker door buzzes in my hand again before going still, another sign that she was listening. Sometimes she tried to remain hidden from me, like she was shy. But it didn't exactly work, considering I could always find her.

Lost in my thoughts, I barely heard the shouts from the people around me complaining about the water and so I continued trying to zip up my bag. The backpack is now fully extended, fat and bulgy from the amount of books and notebooks I had put in there. It was going to take one heck of an effort to lift the thing, let alone carry it. It was at times like this that I knew I should have been a boy; more upper body strength sounded nice.

Either way, I still manage to get the slightly wet backpack onto my back and start waddling to class.

Belle's presence follows me through the hallways, since I could hear a few of the opening lockers buzzing as I walked past them. Maybe she wanted to make sure I could get to class on time even with my heavy pack. It was comforting to know I had someone at my back right now, even if she was a restless soul that hadn't moved on to the Other Place already. One buzz, two buzz, the noises she made are soothing as I waddle to my next class, history with Ms. Gainsborough. I was almost there, almost to the little room where that very nice teacher taught all about the history of all of the different towns in the world. Room 105, almost to Room 105!

The hand lands heavily on my shoulder, making me freeze in the middle of walking. I was at Room 104. Dammit.

I look up to see one of my classmates, a guy called Raijin but Rai for short, staring at me and giving me a cheerful grin as the big lummox is prone to do. "Hiya, Sion!" He says as he pats my shoulder, nearly knocking me into one of the lockers in the process. I immediately put on a fake smile. I've told this guy about a million times that it wasn't an 'S', but a 'Sh' in my name but he never paid attention. I think it was his way of teasing me, but I was never one hundred sure. "What does Seifer want this time, Rai?" I ask bluntly, enjoying the way that his face suddenly fell. He scratches at his throat before shrugging. Instead of answering, he suddenly grabs one of my backpack straps and rips it completely off, despite me actually being in them. Dammit, Rai! I try to swipe the backpack out of his hand but he holds it up above my head and began walking towards my classroom. "He asked me to carry your stuff for you, Sion! He said you'd need it, y'know? After all, your backpack's real heavy, y'know." Rai comments, even though he was able to lift the pack with virtually no trouble.

I groan. I don't know how he knows my schedule, how he knew my locker combination, but as friendly as Rai was being, he was acting strictly on orders. Wait, actually, I know exactly how Rai knows where and how to find me no matter where I go at school.

My stalker is the head of the Disciplinary Committee.

I open the door for him as he walks into Ms. Gainsborough's room, ignoring the squeals from the other girls in my class as my escort takes his sweet time getting to my desk to drop off my giant backpack. But when he does, he very gently puts it on my desk and bows deeply to me, like I was some sort of princess. Jeez. I just stroll in quick and throw myself into the chair, burying my burning face in my hands. I rarely blush, and when I do, it looks I've caught on fire.

God, this was embarrassing!

I burrow deeper into my hands as the girls gossip around me, each and everyone of them giggling excitedly as Rai pats the top of my head and walks off to his own class. "Oooh, did you see that, a _personal_ escort!" I hear from somewhere behind me as a classmate claps her hands eagerly. Somehow, I think they'd be less friendly and eager to set me up if they knew that Rai was acting on orders. The orders of the most popular boy at school and the one that had personally whooped me more times than I can count.

I freakin' hate Seifer.

I feel a hand plop onto my shoulder, patting it gently. "Well, I knew you'd be here," Olette's voice says in an amused way, making me peek up at her from between my fingers. She grins at me, winking conspiratorially at me. "After all, Rai just left and Seifer's in here already!" She teases, reaching up to ruffle my hair playfully. I jerk away from her touch, slamming my head onto the desk.

"Well," I say flatly, sick and tired of all of the pairing jokes that everyone kept doing about me, "I wish they'd leave me alone."

Olette sighs before opening her mouth, no doubt to say that a lot of girls at school would be happy to be in my situation and/or to tell Seifer that I wasn't interested again. But then she frowns, looking troubled and simply opens her science textbook instead. I stare at her in confusion. What the? Was she okay? I start to reach for her, to grab her shoulder and ask her what was wrong but then she bursts into tears.

Aw, crap!

She rubs at her eyes, sobbing silently into her hands as I stare at her, completely frozen and unable to think of a single thing to do to make her stop. I hate tears, I hate them, and I grew up with a guy. I don't _know_ how to make my gal friends stop crying!

"I thought..." Olette says in a quiet voice, hiccuping her words slightly from the sheer amount of tears that were streaming down her face. I didn't know people could cry so much so fast. "That... you were... going to die yesterday... you were bleeding so much..." Oh. She was talking about when I got hit in the face. She had been scared for me. A warm feeling goes through my body, making me smile. Nobody's ever cared this much about me, only Axel. It was a strange feeling knowing that someone else cared about me.

I soften a little before pulling Olette into a hug, patting her head soothingly the way that Axel would have done to me if I was crying. "I have..." I pause, trying to think on how to make it sound like I had a medical condition rather than a seeing ghosts condition that might get me locked up in an asylum. "I've got... something... a little like... hemophilia..." I babble, knowing that just about anyone would be able to tell that I was lying. But Olette just looks up at me with bright green eyes, obviously listening and believing me. I wince, this only makes me feel worse. "And... sometimes cuts just appear on my body. So my blood acts weird. It's hard to get it to clot." At least that part was true.

And I didn't even mention that it was ghosts making the cuts.

"R-Really?" Olette asks before pulling herself out of my arms, studying my nose seriously. "Then shouldn't you be in the hospital?" My face immediately loses all color, and I feel like I've been punched in the face. The hospital. I had been in the hospital, Olette probably would have gone looking for me sometime today to go see me with the rest of her friends. And they would have found out about the fire.

"My family doesn't like hospitals, we believe in healing on our own!"

The lie comes out easily, since it was basically the truth. Axel had drilled it into my head from the start, telling me that if I told people about what he could do, they would think I'm crazy. I already saw ghosts, I didn't need anything else to incriminate me.

Olette stares hard at me, looking like she wanted to catch me in the lie but she didn't know enough about my non-existent folks to say it. But she just nods before hugging me again, holding me close for a few minutes. I just lean into her shoulder, glad to know I had such a good friend. She spends a few minutes calming down, at least til the teacher came back in.

Most of the rest of the class – including Olette's two guy friends called Pence and Hayner, who had wisely chosen to stay out of her cry-fest – let out cheers when the teacher wrote on the blackboard that we would be having a study period. Olette just sniffles and smiles at me before pulling her desk next to mine and waving the boys over.

"Alright," She says eagerly, obviously getting over her freak out. "Let's get started on our history project!" I roll my eyes, hiding a smile as I start pulling out my notebook and a pencil pouch from the depths of Tartarus, AKA my backpack. This girl sure was serious about her homework.

As if on cue, the two boys that pulled up desks beside ours let out a unified groan. "Aw, come on, Olette!" Hayner, a blond guy that I knew was going to end up dating Olette at some point but didn't know that well personally, says irritably. "We've got a whole month to come up with ideas for that! We don't need to turn it in yet!" They begin to glare at each other, slacker vs hard worker.

Geez, get a room already.

I look over at Pence, the second of Olette's guy friends and the shyest little guy I've ever met. Giving him a shrug, I start twirling a pencil around my fingers and open my art book. Might as well finish up that sketch that Highwind gave us, before he starts yelling that we weren't living up to our full potential.

Ignoring the yelling future couple in front of me, I scratch in a few lines of the church steeple in the town I was working on. Highwind had told us to draw an image that came to us in a dream, and since I don't dream, I just started winging it. Somehow, the outline of a very familiar island town is taking shape beneath my pencil, a place that I could have sworn that I've been to before...

"W-Wow," A quiet voice says in amazement, "You're really good! Are you an artist?" I look up to see Pence staring at me in excitement. The chubby little guy was speaking more than I had ever heard him say before, and it was obvious that he wanted to talk to me for some reason. I shake my head shyly and keep sketching, blushing slightly. "Well, um, what do you want to do the project on?" Pence asks next as he pulls out a few books of his own. He stacks them up neatly on the desk, not noticing my halfhearted shrug as I sketch.

Then I look up and have a heart attack.

My jaw drops at the titles of the books and I know immediately that I'm in trouble. 'Sea Phantasms,' 'Wayward Spirits,' 'Earthbound Deaths,' 'Sky Ghosts.' Feeling my body beginning to tremble in fear, I grab the top book and read the back of it, praying that maybe these were mystery novels and not how to catch ghost books. … Within reading a few sentences, I know that this guy is an avid ghost fan.

"You like ghost stories? I love them!" Pence tells me as he opens up another book and starts taking notes on it, humming happily to himself as he scribbles. I shake my head stiffly, remembering just a few of the bad memories that I had with ghosts. The little ghost girl that kept trying to kill me, finding out that one of my teachers was dead by seeing their ghost when I was ten, seeing animals get hit by cars and their lonely spirits going back to find their owners... my little guardian.

A few tears prickle in my eyes as I hand the book quickly and focus back on my island. This was no time to get emotional about the whole thing, I was completely normal. Normal and not weird at all.

Then I hear Pence's announcement. "Then it's decided! Xion and I want to do our history report on the Haunted Mansion!"

Say what?


	5. Chapter 5: Research

**Chapter Five: Research**

I watch lazily as Axel throws the lump of oily dough up into the air, twirling it expertly in his hands as he gives me a very solemn glare.

"So lemme get this straight. He's a ghost freak and since you can't say no, you're going to have to do a project on the legends of Twilight Town." He says for the fifth time in just as many minutes before turning his gaze back onto the pizza. It starts spreading in his fingers, allowing him to keep tossing it and stretching it apart.

I nod, looking back through the books that Pence had lent me for the project. "That's about right. And there's also this haunted mansion in the backwoods of town that we're going to be going into," I tell him softly, flipping through the book of urban legends with more than a little bit of disgust.

Having only read about a chapter into the book, I already was a little queasy. I mean, a sewer rat that someone thought was a dog? That's gross.

"And since I said I didn't know any legends, Pence gave me homework," I wave the book in my hand, shaking my head as I lean back in the stool and keep reading.

It had actually been pretty funny, Pence had been so outraged that he had run to the library just to check me out these books. I had never seen him run so fast, and judging from the shocked expressions on their faces, neither had Olette and Hayner. After that, school went by in a very long blur, I didn't remember a single thing except that conversation this morning. We had even voted. Olette had voted for the Mansion, as long as we got to do the other _six_ legends of the town too. Something about 'propriety' being the goal of the entire project. Naturally, stupid Hayner voted with her. I don't even know what these legends are, but we're going to do them as soon as the others get here. I sigh and keep reading, feeling myself wince with each new word.

I hate scary stories, why is this book full of scary stories? Why can't there be a legend about someone who finds a pot of magic flowers or something?

Axel groans, slamming down his dough and kneading it out roughly."Come on, you've got to get out of this. This is _not_ a good idea." He frowns angrily, shaking his head.

I raise an eyebrow, watching my brother as he carefully starts pinching the edges of his pizza to make a crust. He gives me a glare before reaching out for a pot that was on the stove, trying to grab a ladle sticking out from it without taking his eyes off of me. His fingers search the air, unable to find the damn thing. It kept sliding around in the pot and moving just out of his reach.

I look up from my book with a smile before gently nudging the ladle into his hand. He was so hopeless. Axel glances at me from the corner of his eye before smiling, scooping up a ladleful of sauce to pour it on his pizza. "Thanks," he grunts softly. "Thanks, Poppet."

"No problem, but what am I supposed to do?" I ask him as I finish the story about the rat dog and close the book. I glare at it with disgust and sigh, shaking my head thoughtfully. "I mean, I can't get out of it. We voted. They want to do the project."

Axel snorts. "If they wanted to jump off of a cliff, would you do it too, idiot?" My brother sneers playfully, reaching over to flick me between the eyes in order to stop me from grabbing a handful of cheese for the pizza. I flinch, shocked at being caught in the act and from the sharp tap of his nail on my head. OW. Defiantly, I reach for the cheese again, determined to get some of the cheddar deliciousness in my mouth.

This time, he slaps his entire hand onto my forehead, throwing me off of my chair and onto my feet, but keeping me a few feet away from the counter. An amused smirk flits across his face as he ladles the last bit of sauce onto the dough and starts scooping up cheese and sprinkling it all over the pizza. I growl, my gaze transfixed on the orange-yellow deliciousness falling down onto something that I wouldn't be having because one of the customers would be eating it.

"That's not fair!" I wail, struggling that much harder to get closer to the counter. But Axel's hand remains firmly on my stupid forehead, still keeping me from getting any closer because of my brother's insanely long reach. "You're bigger than I am!" I snap, watching in horror as he picks up the bowl that had the cheese in it and dumps it liberally over the field of sauce.

He smirks. "I'm also the one making the pizza, Xion. And this pizza's already been spoken for." Axel says in a teasing voice before picking up the pan and dropping his hand from my face so he could turn and stick the pizza in the oven. I watch him sulkily as he adjusts a few dials on the oven and then closes it, brushing off his flour covered hands in obvious victory.

Jerk.

I turn my gaze back onto the books, looking at them moodily as I ponder the situation. Sure, the cheese was delicious but that is only a distraction. I had to get out of this. I couldn't encounter these legends, even if they were fakes like I thought. The chances of a supernatural encounter were too high, I just know it.

"I don't even know what this stupid Mansion story even is." I mumble darkly to myself, shaking my head as I pick up the abandoned legends book again, opening it back up to the page I had been. Turning to look at Axel pulling out more flour to make another pizza, I sigh and close my eyes for a moment. Leaning my head against my arm, I slowly drift off into bored daydreams.

I didn't want to think about the project, I didn't want to think about our grade, and I especially didn't want to think about going into a spooky mansion.

_**Run...**_

_**Must find... **_

_**Show... story...**_

_**Show Xion... story...**_

The words are spoken softly by a panicked voice, someone that was truly afraid. The sound of pages turning echo in my head like thunder, filling up the empty spaces with their normally inaudible noise. I sit up, turning to look at the stack of books I had abandoned on the counter.

My little guardian stood there, his eyes fixated intently on the books. He flips through one of them rapidly, scanning through its contents in a way that a normal five year old wouldn't have been able to accomplish. He actually _understands_ the words he was reading and upon finishing the book, casts it aside for another. The little boy grabs at his blond hair angrily, his panicked face becoming that much more afraid as he read. He looked like he was looking for something but that he couldn't find it.

"Axel," I murmur softly, making my brother look up from his oven with a mildly annoyed expression. He nods at me, obviously wondering why I was bothering him instead of reading. I raise an eyebrow and waggle my fingers in an old signal I hadn't used since I was about four. Ghost here. His dark green eyes bulge out in horror as he notices the books flipping all by themselves. He normally couldn't see ghostly activities.

Axel's mouth opens to say something but all that comes out is a high-pitched squeak and so he closes it, instead reverting back to the gestures we used when we were younger and when I couldn't speak that well. He puts his hand on his head, his fingers facing behind him. He sticks out two fingers and waggles them like antennae and puts on a briefly pissed off face. I shake my head and sweep my bangs into a spiky hairstyle that looked a little like a pineapple.

My brother keeps staring as the little boy ghost hops up onto the counter, flattening some of the excess flour. When the pile of flour squishes down, Axel looks like he's about to faint but to his credit, he just pulls up a chair next to the flour. He repeats my gesture, sweeping a little bit of his own hair into those messy spikes.

"What's he doing?" Axel asks in a quiet voice, obviously worried about scaring the little guy off. The boy notices my brother's proximity now and begins to make gestures at him, insulting him for disturbing his work and not letting him finish. I struggle not to laugh and shake my head. "Making faces at you." I inform my brother, making him glare at me.

"He is _not_! What's he doing?" Axel says again before the book flops into his lap, opened up to a specific page. The little boy stares at Axel with a hopeful expression, as if he thought that all of his problems could be solved by my big brother. All that Axel does is look at the page and then he suddenly turns pale. He looks up at the ghost boy with a solemn expression and nods, though he couldn't exactly see where he was.

In exact unison, they hold their fists up and the little boy taps his against Axel's. I suddenly feel like I got punched in the stomach. They knew each other. Axel and my ghost knew each other!

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." Axel says out loud and I know he's not talking to me. Dammit, Axel, how could you keep that from me! He's _my_ haunting! I start reaching for the book, trying to see exactly what had freaked the little ghost out so bad but Axel was faster. Without even looking at it, my brother tears out the page he was looking at and the next couple, rapidly ripping them into shreds. He gets up and heads for the door, obviously going for the cafeteria of the pizzeria where we were going to have our first meeting. In his clenched fist, he had the pages.

"You're officially off the project, I'll tell Pence or Fence or whatever his name is," is all that he said to me before he slammed the kitchen door behind him, obviously telling me that I was to stay here while he talked to my friends. I stare at the torn remains of the book on the counter, unable to believe what had just happened.

… That was a library book...

Axel had taken most of the scraps of paper with him but there was one little scrap left underneath his chair. I briefly look at the ghost child sitting proudly on the counter, obviously pleased with what he had done. He was smiling brightly, humming a melody that I couldn't exactly hear to himself and weaving back and forth to this song. I growl at him. Little traitor. You're supposed to be _my_ friend, you haven't even interacted with Axel in like five years! But I still sneakily bend down to grab the piece of paper, unfolding it to look inside.

The image of a screaming child on fire greets my eyes.


	6. Chapter Six: Unraveling

Chapter Six: Unraveling

**He**_** had pressed me to the wall of the little room, putting **_**his**_** finger to **_**his**_** lips to tell me to be quiet. I had just stared up at **_**him**_** with blank eyes, unable to understand what was going on. My little guardian looked behind him for a moment before finally unlocking the door behind **_**him**_**, walking up to me and pulling me into his lap.**_

"**It'll be okay."****He**_** told me in a quiet voice as I snuggled into **_**his**_** chest, clinging to **_**him**_** in fear. It was hot. It was hot, it was so hot, but **_**his**_** body was so cold. I didn't know what was going on, I didn't know what was happening. But **_**he**_** did and **_**he**_** always protected me. My friend leaned down and put **_**his**_** lips to mine and then **_**he**_** began whispering something strange in my ear . When **_**he**_** was finished speaking, **_**he**_** repeated the gesture to be quiet. I had nodded and mimicked him, putting my finger on my mouth.**_

_**My lips were cold from **_**his**_**. **_

_**I saw tears trickling down **_**his**_** cheeks as **_**he**_** pulled away from me and stood up. I had reached for him. It was so hot, it was hot and I couldn't breathe. Where was **_**he**_** going? Where was **_**he**_** going? When **_**he**_** heard me begin to cry, he had turned around for a moment and smiled at me, told me one more time to be quiet while **_**he**_** went to go find our friends. **_

"**Be a good girl, Xion. I'll be back soon," **_**was the last thing he said to me. **_

_**I reached for him, but he walked to the door too quickly and **_**he**_** closed it behind him. I nodded to his back without understanding why. I was already falling asleep as he locked the door behind him with a soft click. He took the key with him. His footsteps echoed up the hallways behind him until the pad of his bare feet faded away from even my memories.**_

_**As I slept, all I could feel was the memory of him pulling away from me and leaving me in the darkness. All I know is that the boy pulled away from me. I never saw him again. The last I ever saw of him was the stark contrast of his white clothing against the red flames.**_

* * *

My brother was hiding something from me.

I stare at the image of the little kid, wondering what it meant. It's a little ink drawing, like someone's imagining of an event. Someone imagined this generic little kid burning. I squint at its ripped edges, finding the outline of what looked like a pony tail sticking out of the kid's head.

A little girl... covered in flames... I rub my thumb against the girl's mouth, touching the glossy image of a child's anguished screams in confusion. What did it mean?

What the heck did a fire have to do with my brother? I flip the paper over, trying to find some sort of clue saying what it meant. There were words on the back of it, mostly fragmented letters that had been separated completely from the rest of the words they belonged to. I take a seat on the floor, squinting at the paper. 'The,' 'man,' 'spir'... Only three of the words were even understandable, and even they didn't make sense. The... man... spir... I blink, understanding the last one.

Spirit.

The paper was only the size of my thumb, but it had the word spirit on it. Well, that made sense, it came from a book about ghost stories. Ghost stories... I look up at the book leaning over the counter, where Axel had dumped it.

The heavy pressure of the little boy ghost's stare suddenly drops back to me, as if he was wondering what I was doing. I grab the side of the counter and hoist myself up with a soft grunt, brushing my hands off of the flour and dust I had collected while on the floor. Maybe there was still something in the book that could help me out. I snatch it off of the counter and take a seat on a stool, beginning to scan through the pages just before the ripped section.

As I look for a word, even a sentence to explain what the heck was going on, I hear a heavy shaking noise, like someone had suddenly picked up a massive object and was rattling its contents around. I glance up and see the rest of the books I had left behind floating in the air, their covers flying open and their pages flapping around in an unnatural wind. The rest of the kitchen was completely still. Ah. So he really was mad. The now enraged spirit stares at me, a piercing look of anger in his dark blue eyes. He looks ready to kill someone, specifically the one refusing to follow his orders.

The books rattle violently, warning me to put the one in my hand back down. I glare at him defiantly, watching as his eyes narrow and the torn book begins to shake in my hand.

Spirits don't actually exist in the living world. They're on a plane of existence that cannot touch the mundane one. They no longer exist within it, they are nothing but a mass of broken thoughts and emotions that cannot be changed or destroyed. They are nothing in our plane of existence, not anymore. But a spirit can _influence_ it, if they're strong enough. Otherwise, they are nothing more than a visual trick, the image of someone that has already since been gone into the Other Place. With the exception of one type of spirit, a poltergeist, they cannot harm you, nor can they touch you.

But this one was plenty strong. And my little guardian could easily become a poltergeist if he thought it would help me.

I watch as the book rips itself from my hand and throws itself over to the counter, slamming hard into it and skidding down to the floor again. Oh, that cheeky little ghost! As my gaze moves back to the little traitor, he flashes me a big grin and claps soundlessly, pleased with his deeds.

"You little-!" I snarl before getting up, intent on grabbing Axel and figuring out what had happened. Why had someone who had normally gone out of his way to look after me suddenly attack me, why was he going against me? Before I could even move a step forward, the ghost's eyes narrow slightly and I feel a heavy pressure suddenly drag me down to the floor, forcing me to kneel.

No!

I struggle against the pressure, feeling cold little hands on my skin, pulling my body down forcibly. The little boy looks at me for a long moment, his dark blue eyes searching mine before he jumps down from the counter. A puff of white flour accompanies his too slow descent before his bare foot hits the ground without making a sound. He crouches down besides the counter, his low whisper almost too soft to reach my ears.

_**'Won't ...let... you … Xion... will... get hurt...'**_

As always when he spoke, the boy's voice is labored and hoarse, like he had just run a marathon or had inhaled a mouthful of smoke. He cannot speak properly and he scratches at his throat with his long fingernails, like he was trying to rip the words from his throat so I could hear them right.

"Stop," I hear myself say in an equally quiet voice, trying to get my friend to listen, to make him stop and listen before he went into a rage. The boy doesn't look at me as he yanks at his throat, his clawed fingers were too busy trying to tear it apart. "Stop it!" I shout in the fear that he would actually manage to hurt himself.

He blinks once before lowering his hand, dropping to his knees and bursting into tears.

I hurt him. I hurt him.

The tears drip from his eyes, heavy and gray with this strange dark color, like he had just rubbed his face with ashes. He doesn't look at me, keeping his gaze firmly on the floor. His shoulders droop, like he had realized just how far he had gone to oppose my freedom and to try to hurt himself, both things that I hated and that he knew I hated. But even so, he doesn't move towards me and he doesn't try to apologize.

He just turns his head towards me and I feel the world begin to rattle.

The little boy stares at me with wounded eyes before the second of the books slams into the counter, shattering a porcelain mug that my brother used to hold ingredients. The sticky oil that had been inside of it today drips down to the tiles, golden streams of light oozing over the white. I turn away from the boy and at the new mess and at the books that were hanging in mid-air.

As if waiting for a cue, they all fall in unison, dropping to the counter with hard _thuds_. I close my eyes and I hear a quiet voice mutter something darkly, a warning.

_**'You'll... be... sorry...' **_

A cold rush of fear runs through my veins at these quiet words. Sorry? For what? Even if he was trying to protect me and there was something going on between my friend and my brother that I didn't know about, I didn't know what it was that I was supposed to be sorry for. I open my eyes and I see the little boy ghost looking at me, a horrible look of pity and despair in his dark blue eyes. He doesn't try to speak again, having taxed his throat badly enough with what little he had spoken. Instead, he holds out a little pale hand in a gesture of apology and fear, like he was scared of losing me.

I pause for a moment. "If... If I promise to take you with me," I start to ask, looking at the transparent boy in order to gauge his reaction. He just blinks once and leans toward me, listening intently. "Would you let me finish the project? And not get me in trouble for it?"

A big pleased grin crosses his face before he can stop himself, a very rare moment of pure and utter joy from the normally solemn little boy. Then his expression goes back to his serious business face and he touches his fingers to my palm, sealing the pact. They are cold to the touch but as I wrap my hand around them, they almost feel warm.

I give him a little nod, letting him know that all was forgiven, and that we were both going to figure out the mystery of the torn book and why he didn't want me to see it. From the way he was holding onto my hand, I know that he would be telling me... or showing me... the truth soon.

"C'mon then, we need to stop Axel from killing Pence."

* * *

"And I'm telling you, _no__!_"

I blink as Axel grabs the legs of a chair that was next to him and hoists it up to his shoulders, obviously about to slam said piece of furniture into my friend's head. There's a look of sheer rage on his face that I hadn't seen in a very long time, mostly whenever I had been tortured by the little girl ghost when I was younger. It was his_ 'I am going to fucking __**murder**__ you'_ look.

This was not going well for Pence.

To his credit, Pence doesn't flinch, even when Axel starts swinging. Instead, he just ducks under the table they had been sitting at and manages to dodge the attack out of what I think was sheer spite. The minute that the wooden chair breaks against the wall of the pizzeria, he leaps out and grabs Axel by the scruff of his shirt, dragging him down to his level with a ferocity that I didn't think he was capable of.

Even Axel looks really surprised.

Pence takes in a deep breath and tightens his grip on Axel's shirt, glaring at him angrily. "I've asked a friend of mine to come a really, _really_ long way to help us with our project," He begins in a quiet voice, sounding more or less normal if a little more angry than he usually is. "And he's coming here all the way from Destiny Islands. I asked him to help us with the Mansion legend and we'll be doing the other legends, which are one hundred percent safe. I did them over summer break, and no one will get hurt." He pauses for a moment before he looks over Axel's shoulder at me. I just raise my hand in greeting and Pence smiles a little bit before turning his gaze back onto Axel, somehow much more determined than he was before. "Especially not Xion. … I give you my word as a man."

He then proceeded to let go of my brother and flop back onto his chair, folding his arms across his chest and glaring defiantly at the big idiot.

Axel smirks as he grabs Pence by the throat, and I can practically the bellows inside of him begin to expand.

"Axel!"

The two guys turn around as the little boy ghost lets go of my hand, obvious intending to jump into the fight too. Oh no you don't! "All of you, knock it the heck off!" I snarl, making the three of them freeze into place out of sheer surprise. I fold my arms angrily across my chest and give them such a scolding look that all three of them sit down at the table with Axel pulling out a chair for me.

That's _better_.

I take a seat next to Axel and the little boy, giving them both another glare before clearing my throat. "Now... You can't throw chairs at my friends, Axel." I snarl angrily, slamming my elbow into his side hard. He winces but just looks away, trying to fool me into thinking that it didn't hurt him at all.

My brother just flips his hair mockingly, smirking in a purposely annoying way. He knew exactly what he had done, and I know that he isn't the least bit sorry for it. I sigh. Stupid brother. I turn to Pence next, deciding to ignore Axel for a little bit.

"Are you hurt?" I ask him quietly, seriously wondering if Axel hadn't given him internal burns just to piss me off. Pence turns a little pink but shakes his head no, giving me a bright smile. "Uh... no... I'm alright... You don't have to... w-worry about me..." He stammered into silence again and started fidgeting with a napkin that they had knocked over.

The ghost boy looked at me blankly before raising an eyebrow, clearly asking what the hell was up with Pence.

I secretively shrug at him before turning to Axel and slapping my hand upside his head. "OW!" He yelped, gripping the now reddening part of his face. My brother gave me a vicious glare and stood up, obviously about to return the favor by either pinning me to the wall and starting up another fire by 'accident' again.

"Don't ever scare my friends again." I warn him before folding my arms across my chest neatly, giving Pence a bright smile. "So uh, where's your friend from? Why's he coming?" I ask him next, making him jolt and switch his shocked gaze from Axel to me. He turns a little more pink and grins cheerfully.

"Oh, he's a friend of mine from the same chatrooms where I found out more about the mansion!" Pence declares proudly and he chooses to ignore the snort from Axel. "Well, it's a paranormal forum where everyone gets to weigh in on others' supernatural experiences, and he's one of the mediums that shows up a lot... He's from Destiny Islands and when I told him about the mansion," The kid starts to shake in excitement, his grin threatening to rip itself off of his face and fly away from how big it was. "He got all hyped up and said he would be coming in a few days!"

I raise an eyebrow but don't say anything. A person who could see ghosts? That was an ability that almost no one had, and I had the evidence to back it. I was the only person I had ever known that had the 'gift' and all other people who claimed that they had it turned out to be shams.

I would believe it only when I saw it.

* * *

The boy glances at his book restlessly, only too eager to get off the train and stretch his legs. His cabin is full to the rafters, making it impossible for him to get up and pace like he wanted to. For some reason, he's nervous, despite it being a routine job. Sure, he wasn't getting paid this time around – it was more like community service this time around – but he was needed.

He had felt it deep inside of him that he needed to go to the Mansion.

The boy runs his fingers through his spiky locks and sighs as he closes his book neatly onto his lap. "Twilight Town couldn't come fast enough," He mutters out of the corner of his mouth, directing the comment to something on the floor. As if in response, his suitcase rattles slightly, bouncing against the seat and into his fingertips. He smiles slightly, his solemn expression softening at the antics. He pats the leather with a gentle hand.

"Don't worry, honey, we'll get there soon." The boy tells the suitcase before opening his book back up and leaning against his seat. A pale white hand rose through the hardened leather and wrapped around his ankle, a soothing and familiar presence that had calmed him through much more difficult ghost-hunting missions.

He smiles a little more as he flips through his book and continues to read about the place he would soon be going to.

"The Old Mansion..." The boy reads out loud, carefully folding a corner of the page he was on. The picture on the page interests him, specifically the way that the two kids were staring up defiantly at the camera.

The boy looked angry, even downright murderous, strange but understandable behavior for someone who had been caught in a fire. His green eyes were slitted and his mouth was set into a savage snarl; the ghost hunter could practically hear the cursing coming from the paper. On the other hand, the little girl was completely limp, even unmoving in the older boy's arms. She was dead, if he was judging it right.

And typically, he _was_ right.

He flips the page thoughtfully, looking for another picture of the teenager to see if he could find him later on in Twilight Town. If he could get a first hand source, the information could be invaluable. He could even find out what types of ghosts he was dealing with; it would be pretty horrible to lead Pence into danger just because he misjudged the species of spirit. But he wouldn't be talking to the girl. There would be no point in trying to find her.

After all, the girl's ghost was sitting inside of his suitcase.


End file.
